Embodiments of the invention relate to analytical devices and systems, and more particularly, to a cartridge for holding biosample capillary tubes wherein the cartridge may be stored in the cartridge storage slots of tape library systems and handled by the robotic mechanisms of the tape library systems.
Samples of biological matters are often analyzed in bio-assay processes to detect the presence of bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, and other substances of interest. The biosamples may be stored in capillary tubes and analyzed by a biological detection instrument. The detection instrument may record the analysis results of a biosample on a data storage medium such as a computer memory, disk drive, magnetic tape, or compact disk, which may include an identification tag to correlate the biosample with the analysis results.
High-performance computer data storage systems such as optical disc and magnetic tape libraries possess the automation to facilitate the scanning and analysis of biosamples, and to tabulate the resulting analysis data. For example, these systems may analyze the biosamples using magnetic tape read heads to detect magnetized nanoparticles attached to the biosamples. The biosamples and analysis data may be stored in different locations following the analysis, which make it difficult to correlate the biosamples with the corresponding data when needed. For a large number of biosamples and capillary tubes used to store the biosamples, the task of correlating the biosamples to their data becomes even more complex. It is desirable to exploit the use of automation functions available in data storage library systems to facilitate the correlation and management of biosample capillary tubes and biosample analysis data.